Although socioeconomic status and pre-K involvement both clearly correlate to kindergarten readiness in urban areas and particularly within Memphis, there are other, larger urban processes at work within the setting of urban Memphis. One of these processes is urban psychology. Urban psychology relates the interactions of the people to their surroundings and how these interactions shape the children. These surroundings for a pre-kindergarten child can include the home environment, which has already been described as extremely stress and even potentially toxic for lower SES families by Katy Spurlock, and the pre-K or daycare environment (2015). Most authors, including Burchinal et al., focus much more on the pre-K and daycare environment as
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The quality of classroom or child care environment has been determined as a large factor in the success of a child in school for two reasons: One, the level of instruction provided by the teacher to the child in reading and math, along with other core competencies, seemed to be improved with higher quality classrooms and two, behavioral problems seemed to decrease when children were placed within a higher quality classroom (Burchinal, 2010). The higher quality versus the lower quality of classroom had a significant effect on both the instructor as well as the child. Perhaps due to the nicer nature of the higher quality classrooms, both the student and the instructor felt called to a higher code of behavior than when placed in a classroom that may not be as clean, new, or resource filled. While nothing changed other than the location of the interaction between the teacher and the child, the environment of the classroom effected change upon both individuals, highlighting the ability of a surrounding to alter the action of the …show more content…
Urban sociology can be used to understand the interactions between individuals from parents to their children to their teachers all the way to groups placing interventions in the area to solve the issue. As Connell reports, children whose parents provided a structured environment that contain direct, focused interactions with their children, such as reading and encouragement, performed better on kindergarten assessments testing for cognitive, social, and communicative skills (2002). These findings suggest that the parent to child interaction is key to the preparedness of a child for entering school, especially those interactions which are structured and responsive to the child’s needs. Additionally, Spurlock mentioned that while pre-K is the best intervention for kindergarten readiness, reaching parents and other caregivers with curriculum such as “Touch, Talk, Read, Play” is the main goal of The Urban Child Institute (2015). “Touch, Talk, Read, Play” (TTRP) exists as a program that teaches parents how to interact with their children in order to promote positive brain development within the critical years of zero to the age of five (TUCI, 2011). Spurlock states that TUCI focuses on the sociological role within the urban environment through particularly the role of the parents along with other child-care providers due to the fact
The quality of classroom or child care environment has been determined as a large factor in the success of a child in school for two reasons: One, the level of instruction provided by the teacher to the child in reading and math, along with other core competencies, seemed to be improved with higher quality classrooms and two, behavioral problems seemed to decrease when children were placed within a higher quality classroom (Burchinal, 2010). The higher quality versus the lower quality of classroom had a significant effect on both the instructor as well as the child. Perhaps due to the nicer nature of the higher quality classrooms, both the student and the instructor felt called to a higher code of behavior than when placed in a classroom that may not be as clean, new, or resource filled. While nothing changed other than the location of the interaction between the teacher and the child, the environment of the classroom effected change upon both individuals, highlighting the ability of a surrounding to alter the action of the …show more content…
Urban sociology can be used to understand the interactions between individuals from parents to their children to their teachers all the way to groups placing interventions in the area to solve the issue. As Connell reports, children whose parents provided a structured environment that contain direct, focused interactions with their children, such as reading and encouragement, performed better on kindergarten assessments testing for cognitive, social, and communicative skills (2002). These findings suggest that the parent to child interaction is key to the preparedness of a child for entering school, especially those interactions which are structured and responsive to the child’s needs. Additionally, Spurlock mentioned that while pre-K is the best intervention for kindergarten readiness, reaching parents and other caregivers with curriculum such as “Touch, Talk, Read, Play” is the main goal of The Urban Child Institute (2015). “Touch, Talk, Read, Play” (TTRP) exists as a program that teaches parents how to interact with their children in order to promote positive brain development within the critical years of zero to the age of five (TUCI, 2011). Spurlock states that TUCI focuses on the sociological role within the urban environment through particularly the role of the parents along with other child-care providers due to the fact